First Five: Malloy expected to announce another recipient in Stamford under state program

Updated 10:23 pm, Thursday, March 14, 2013

STAMFORD -- Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is expected to announce another company will be relocating or expanding in Stamford as part of his First Five economic development program.

Malloy is to make the announcement Friday afternoon. The name of the company or its proposed location is not known.

Mayor Michael Pavia said he had not been informed by the governor's office of any economic development announcement and had not heard of any major relocations.

"There's a number of discussions I know of potential relocations to Stamford, but none to my knowledge at this time," Pavia said. "If the state has cut a deal, we don't know about it."

The First Five program provides tax credits and other economic incentives for companies that relocate to Connecticut or commit to increasing their workforce.

Among potential locations are the Gateway site now under construction near the Stamford train station and the long-vacant 614,000-square-foot Clocktower building formerly occupied by General Re Corp. Both sites are owned by Building and Land Technology, which is in the process of reshaping an 80-acre tract of the city's South End with a $3.5 billion development dubbed Harbor Point.

BLT is banking on another Malloy First Five recipient, hedge-fund behemoth Bridgewater Associates, to relocate from Westport to a proposed waterfront campus on a 14-acre peninsula that once housed a working boatyard. The $750 million project to bring 1,200 jobs with the promise of adding 750 to 1,000 new jobs was awarded up to $115 million in state tax credits under the proposal.

Of the nine companies that have taken advantage of First Five credits, four are based in or have locations in Stamford. Malloy was mayor of the city for 14 years before becoming governor in 2010.

In 2011, NBC Sports Group inked a deal to bring about 500 jobs to the former Clairol site on the East Side in exchange for a $20 million loan. In 2012, Malloy announced $16 million for financial accounting firm Deloitte to retain more than 1,000 jobs in the state, including Stamford, and add up to 500 new jobs.

Following the proposed Bridgewater move in August 2012, Malloy announced in October that Charter Communications would move its headquarters from St. Louis to offices at 400 Atlantic St. with 200 executive-level jobs in exchange for a $6.5 million state loan.